It was meant to be a triumphant goodbye, but instead, the Upside Down briefly spilled into real life. Netflix experienced a short outage on Wednesday night just as the highly anticipated finale of ‘Stranger Things 5’ dropped, leaving fans scrambling to refresh their screens at the exact moment the saga was meant to end.

The crash hit around 5 p.m. PT, aligning precisely with the release of the final episode of Season 5. Users attempting to watch the conclusion were met with an error page featuring a familiar ‘Nailed It!’ image and an apology message. The disruption lasted roughly a minute before service was restored.

This marks the second technical hiccup tied to the final season, following a longer outage during the Season 5 premiere in late November. Previous finales have also pushed the platform to its limits, including Season 4’s release in 2022.

Despite the stumble, the numbers remain massive. The final season pulled in tens of millions of views and even expanded to select theatrical screenings ahead of New Year’s Eve.

Reflecting on the milestone, co-creator Ross Duffer shared:

“What a way to close out a 10-year journey — together.”

Thoughts?